"I can't speak for production, but I really like that people see us when we're traveling around the world. If you're a fan of the show, ... you're going to be more excited because you want to see what happens."Phil Keoghan

just saw this after sending the other msg in the TAR14 thread! WOW! july fourth baby! very cool!congrats to the brand new TAR family! Is this the first TARbaby? meaning babies born after association with TAR (racers or production folks) not before?

"I can't speak for production, but I really like that people see us when we're traveling around the world. If you're a fan of the show, ... you're going to be more excited because you want to see what happens."Phil Keoghan

thanks for the link, slowhatch! great photos.. can't believe ray and deana stuck together long enough to have a baby.. a "blue-eyed charmer"! achilles is an interesting name allright, perhaps named for their only Achilles heel (according to Adam Troy-Castro) -"Colin's anger management problem". they look like they're having a great time with their Greek hero...

Last night was the CBS/Showtime/The CW all-star party, at a large club in Hollywood. Or at least I was told it was large, because to me it only seemed as big as the inch-and-a-half between my nose and the backs of the next celebrity entourage.

.....

Then I had a nice chat (OK, nice yell, it was loud in there) with Bertram Van Munster, executive producer of "The Amazing Race" (for which you may recall, I fake-Emmy-voted a few days ago). Regular Cuppers know that I did the first press visit to the super-secret "Race" HQ in El Segundo for an upcoming syndicated feature story. At that time, his wife and partner, Elise Doganieri, was less than two weeks away from giving birth.

Van Munster reveals that he now has a healthy baby daughter. As she was delivered by C-section, Doganieri unfortunately couldn't go on the the world-spanning scouting trip for the next season of the reality-competition show. Sadly, he didn't have a picture of the new addition, but he says she's gorgeous, and Hot Cuppa TV believes him.

"I can't speak for production, but I really like that people see us when we're traveling around the world. If you're a fan of the show, ... you're going to be more excited because you want to see what happens."Phil Keoghan

When Amazing Race co-creator Bertram van Munster is available to chat, we take him up on it and our reporter (and Amazing Race fan) Gayle Carter did just that recently. He was eager to share how he picks the Race teams, his favorite reality show, his well-tested travel tips, his favorite locale and more. Everything but his age (“I don’t want you to know. Is that OK?" he asked politely.) We also wanted to know where else he’d like to take the Race (“A lot of places, but I don’t want to say it.”) Click read more for the whole conversation.

Q. Why do you think that even at Amazing Race season 13, it still seems new to viewers? The cast? The locations?“It’s a combination of all those things: great casting, the world is still a big place...I still have the enthusiasm to come up with great stuff. It’s very energizing going around the world trying to put together new stuff all the time. The contestants have never been able to guess where we are going. By the same token, we have never been able to pick who is going to be able to win the race. It’s absolutely impossible for us. I think one couple is going to do it and then they’re out the next week. It’s completely unpredictable who will win.”

Q. What makes great contestants?“We’re looking for teams of two who have a pre-existing relationship: They know each other well, very well, sometimes too well. We all know when we sit with our family member in the car: The first five intersections we agree to turn left but at the sixth one, the ego starts to come out and we don’t agree we’re supposed to take a left [turn]. If they know each other well; they immediately begin to react. They start in the first three minutes. If we don’t know each other well; we’re reluctant to say something to each other. It is humorous. ... We want people from all walks of life, people who have traveled very little: Remember the coal miners [Season 10]? They were wonderful, their eyes were wide open and they were excited about the world... A lot has to do with their personalities, who they are, how they react, how they react to each other and the next ingredient is how they react to the next contestants. At the same time [we are casting], we are laying out the race, knowing what their fears are, what they like or don’t like...”

Q. How many people apply to go on each Race?“Depends. It goes between 8,000 and 25,000. It’s a lot of work to go through it. I love good new reality people, there’s an innocence you’ll never find in old [reality TV] stars. They think they know how it works, they’re kind of blasé.”

Q. Would you do a Celebrity Amazing Race?“A celebrity version is always fun but how are you going to get all these celebrities to go around the world for three or four weeks? They are swamped with their own lives; it’s difficult to even make appointments with them. We’ve been asked by wonderful people, everybody wants to do it but they can’t really do it...”

Q. What about safety on the Race, is that a concern in choosing locations?“Safety is probably the biggest concern because you want people to have a good time and have a wonderful experience -- we are very concerned with it.”

Q. How many people work on the Race?“Around 100 total go on the Race, the amount of people getting a paycheck from the Race is 2,000 worldwide.”

Q. How many cameras do you have with each team?“Each team has one camera team, a camera man and soundman. The camera man is the director, we don’t use producers in that capacity, these are guys I’ve known for many years, they are my front line of storylines.”

Q. After all this travel, I’m always amazed that people still go on the Race not knowing how to change a tire or misreading directions (taking a taxi instead of walking), etc. After all these trips, you could do an Amazing Race travel tips book. What would be your top travel tips?“First, you have to bring a great sense of humor, you run into some really bizarre answers from people you cannot expect. You need a passport, along with an inoculation card, I travel with practically no money in my pocket, I travel with a credit card, it’s very effective and nobody can mess with you. I take very little with me. I can go around the world. I’ve got one little carry-on, including a suit for emergency conversations with high officials. I don’t schlep a lot, you can always buy a t-shirt, jeans, don’t bring expensive clothes, shoes, go easy, it helps you in also keeping a low profile which I think these days is absolutely a requirement. You don’t want to stand out with expensive luggage, watches. You make yourself a target.”

Q. Do you watch other reality shows?“I love Dancing With the Stars, it’s a fantastic show. Reality shows have gotten a little flat, it’s almost feel like we’ve run out of ideas....There’s a learning curve in producing reality TV. There’s a lot of great ideas but I’m not sure they are executed right. I’ve been in this business for a long time. I come from commercial background. I was a commercial director for many many years. Maybe some people underestimate how difficult it is to do something really really good: the storytelling, the drama, the humor, the casting, all that great stuff. A lot of shows fail because storytelling isn’t right. I’ve seen shows that could easily be fixed...[Poor quality shows] ultimately are bad for business. The Amazing Race got six Emmys [for outstanding reality competition ] in a row. That’s good for all reality business. If someone else would win, I’m capable of walking over and saying 'Congratulations.'"

Q. Any places you’ve gone on the Race that you’d like to go back, or you’d recommend?“For myself, I really like Moscow, It’s such a vibrant city. I’d rather go to Moscow than to Paris; Italy is great: a fantastic place is Sicily. I could always tell people to go to Chile, people overlook it. The Northern part is desert, the southern part is like Austria, it’s a very beautiful country with wonderful people; Argentina. If you watch the Race on Sunday, we go to Cambodia (pictured above), one of my favorite places right now.

"I can't speak for production, but I really like that people see us when we're traveling around the world. If you're a fan of the show, ... you're going to be more excited because you want to see what happens."Phil Keoghan

"I can't speak for production, but I really like that people see us when we're traveling around the world. If you're a fan of the show, ... you're going to be more excited because you want to see what happens."Phil Keoghan

Mr. Van MunsterBertram Van Munster and his wife, Elise Doganieri, bought the three-bedroom, two-bath at 478 21st Place in Santa Monica from Mary Utick for $5.5 million on Nov. 25.

Utick paid $1.928 million for the property in March 2004.

Van Munster is an award-winning Dutch-American television producer and co-creator of the Emmy award-winning CBS reality television show "The Amazing Race." He's won six primetime Emmy Awards for the show.

He was also a field producer on the television series "Cops" and together with his wife, produced Oprah Winfrey's reality show "Oprah's Big Give."

Doganieri is also a co-creator and co-executive producer of CBS reality television show "The Amazing Race."

There have been 497 home sales in Santa Monica in 2008, with a median sales price of $875,000.

Anton van Munster was the recipient of numerous awards and Oscar nominations for his work. In December, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands appointed him Knight in the Order of Oranje-Nassau.

He filmed many of the key Paris street scenes while working with French filmmaker Jacques Tati on the comedy classic "Traffic" (1971).

Van Munster also worked for many years with Dutch director Bert Haanstra. Together, they received an Oscar nomination for the feature-length documentary "Ape and Super-Ape" (1972) as well as an Oscar and a Golden Bear nomination for the feature-length doc "Alleman" (1963).

Van Munster served as director of photography for the Dutch production company Nature Conservation Films, lensing a number of major wildlife feature films, including "African King," "Serengeti Symphony," "The Leopard Son" and "African Bambi." He worked in Tanzania several months each year and, before he became ill, was working on thje films "War of the Hippos" and "Survivor."

He also had a long professional relationship working with the National Geographical Society and the Wolper Organization.

Van Munster prepared for his professional career by studying cinematography in Rome at the renowned Centro Spirimentale di Cinematografia.

"I can't speak for production, but I really like that people see us when we're traveling around the world. If you're a fan of the show, ... you're going to be more excited because you want to see what happens."Phil Keoghan

Elise was a featured speaker at the 2009 LATV Fest Agenda on Tuesday July 8th:

4:15 to 5:15 PM

Westside Room Main Session: Secrets of the Reality Heavyweights

What are the essential elements for a breakout reality show? We've gathered a group of reality heavyweights – successful producers, network execs, agents – who know a thing or two about creating, developing, selling, producing and maintaining a reality hit. Each will reveal how their hit ideas developed, the snags they hit along the way – and the key insights they had that helped them overcome the inevitable obstacles. We’ll also explore the most important question: Why? Why do some of their reality shows hit it out of the park, while others die on the vine? Are there common lessons to be drawn from the reality heavyweights?

"I can't speak for production, but I really like that people see us when we're traveling around the world. If you're a fan of the show, ... you're going to be more excited because you want to see what happens."Phil Keoghan

Speaker Bio Elise DoganieriExecutive ProducerEarthview Inc. Elise Doganieri is Executive Producer and Co-Creator of the Emmy Award winning CBS hit adventure/reality series The Amazing Race. This is the 6th consecutive Emmy win for Outstanding Reality Competition Program (at the 60th Annual Emmys, September 21, 2008). This unique reality series is now in the ranks of such legendary and prestigious Emmy winner shows as “Cheers,” “Frasier” and “West Wing.” The hit reality series continues on CBS in 2009.

Elise was also an Executive Producer and a partner with Oprah Winfrey and her Harpo Productions on the 2008 reality series for ABC, Oprah’s Big Give.

Elise, with her partner, Bertram van Munster runs Earthview Incorporated, a highly regarded television production company based in Los Angeles, which has launched such production companies as World Race Productions (The Amazing Race) and Profiles Television LLC (ABC’s Profiles from the Front Line). Earthview maintains worldwide satellite offices from South America to Africa to Asia.

Elise was also honored with the 2005 much-coveted Producers Guild of America award for non-fiction television during ceremonies in Los Angeles. The series also received a Family Friendly Award in 2005, in addition to award nominations in the reality category from the PGA and GLADD.

Earlier in 2003, she served as Producer for ABC’s critically acclaimed reality series Profiles from the Front Line, which depicted the men and women in the armed forces battling the enemy in the Middle East.

Her other TV credits include serving as Producer and Story Editor for the Wild Things pilot -- which launched the successful Paramount Television adventure series that saw three championship TV seasons with the studio from 1997 to 2000.

Previously, Elise, a native New Yorker, worked as an advertising executive both in Manhattan and Los Angeles for a wide range of top agencies; including Ogilvy & Mather, DDB Needham and Chiat/Day.

Elise attended the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City where she received a Bachelor of Fine Art degree, graduating with honors. In 2006 The Fashion Institute of Technology honored her with the Marvin Feldman Award, recognizing achievement in business and technology.

Elise was a featured speaker at the 2007 National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) convention held in Las Vegas, attended by the world’s television community. Also, she addressed the Dynamic Women in Business Conference, held at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

She makes her home in Los Angeles.

What I find most interesting is the statement that Earthview Incorporated owns World Race Productions. I was previously not clear on the relationships between those companies.